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"419" Scam – Advance Fee / Fake Lottery Scam

The so-called "419" scam is a type of fraud dominated by criminals from Nigeria and other countries in Africa. Victims of the scam are promised a large amount of money, such as a lottery prize, inheritance, money sitting in some bank account, etc.

Victims never receive this non-existent fortune but are tricked into sending their money to the criminals, who remain anonymous. They hide their real identity and location by using fake names and fake postal addresses as well as communicating via anonymous free email accounts and mobile phones.

Keep in mind that scammers DO NOT use their real names when defrauding people.
The criminals either abuse names of real people or companies or invent names or addresses.
Any real people or companies mentioned below have NO CONNECTION to the scammers!

Read more about such scams here or in our 419 FAQ. Use the Scam-O-Matic to verify suspect emails.

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Some comments by the Scam-O-Matic about the following email:

Fraud email example:

From: The Anu Family <theanufamily@yahoo.co.uk>
Date: Tue, 22 Aug 2006 09:47:49 +0100 (BST)
Subject: Re: My lawyer complained about you, why?


My beloved Pastor Robert Ised,
Greetings to you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
I don't understand what you mean that he is asking for advance fee that contravene the Nigerian constitution? He told me point blank that he needs money to obtain the document, even if it means that he will send them to you by Courier Service to see and then return it to him before he will proceed to London, then he is willing to do it to show you his sincerity.
I don't really believe you are writing all these to him because if you do, he will be very upset about me asking him to do this for my sake. I want you to try and be more realistic with him and see the workability with what you are writing and demanding from him. How could he get documents without making a down payments to them? he said that it is not possible for him to do that as they people there must demand money from him before issuing the documents to him.
Please i don't the two of you to quarell over this again as it will really break my very existence. For God sake and that of me, please do try and see reasons with him and give him that benefit of a doubt. I have known him for up to fourteen years now and I have never doubted his deeds and actions even for a day. I know him to be trustworthy and will never want to hurt you in any way or lie to you because of the documents, please do try and accord him that same trust that i have come to bestowed on him for years now.
Remain bless,
Mrs. Joy Anu


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